ENGLISHThe "Sledgehammer Coup Plot" allegation first hit the public in the face on January 20th, 2010, with the bombastic headline of a newsrag named Taraf. The headline went "They were going to bomb the Fatih mosque". According to the newspaper, the Turkish Armed Forces had been plotting a secret operation, codename "Sledgehammer" (Balyoz) with the aim of creating a climate of anarchy as an excuse for staging a coup. Taraf claimed the Armed Forces were willing to bomb our own mosque and shoot one of our own planes to reach this end. What followed was a widespread roundup of officers, recalling the similarly unfounded "Ergenekon Terror Organization" witchhunts that had preceded it. It was clear and obvious to many, including myself, that the true target was the secular Turkish Republic, as founded by Ataturk, and the Armed Forces that were sworn to defend it. The lie could be mantained only so long. The "Sledgehammer" inmates were released starting June 19th, 2014, less than two years after being condemned to long sentences, including life, on September 20th, 2012. Similarly, the Ergenekon inmates had been released en masse this past March 7th. One would think the AKP government would suffer a severe loss of credibility after the collapse of allegations it so strongly backed, but amazingly, prime minister Erdoğan managed to shift the entire bame on erstwhile partner in crime Fethullah Gülen, the "Imam of Pennsylvania", and his "Community". Now the whitewashed prime minister is running for presidency. I made the animation above prior to the constitutional referendum of September 12th, 2010. At the time the AKP government was soliciting extensive constitutional amendments in order to strengthen its own hand in transforming the secular Turkish Republic into an Islamist theocracy, exploiting the specter of a military coup in order to execute a civilian one. I freely used the "sledgehammer" image, so topical at the time. I then sent this animaton to friends and acquaintances by e-mail. The first caption says "Now it's in the hands of the electorate", the second one says "a civilian response to a civilian coup" followed by "no", the third says "to the ballot box for the response". The larger part of the electorate chose to support the AKP's amendments nevertheless.

Ben kimim?/ Who am I?

TÜRKÇE: Klasik anlamda, yani kalemle çalışan animatörüm. Yurtdışında ve ülkemden birçok stüdyada çalıştım, eşim Lale Özgür'ün şahıs şirketi "Esin Desen" adına da çok çalışmalarım oldu. Çeşitli okullarda animasyon öğretmenliği de yaptım. Katılmış olduğum film projelerini
IMDB'den görebilirsiniz. _______________________________ ENGLISH: I am an animator in the classical, hand-drawn sense. I have worked for many studios both abroad and from h.ome. I have produced quite an amount of work for "Esin Desen", my wife's company. I have also taught animation in many institutions. The projects in which I have participated can be seen on the IMDB.